SeaWorld orca trainer who was one of the company's most prominent trainers before she was killed during a performance with the orca Tilikum. The incident resulted in major safety changes and was featured in the documentary Blackfish.
She attended the University of South Carolina, where she studied animal behavior. She went on to work with dolphins at Six Flags in New Jersey before joining SeaWorld in 1994.
After her death, SeaWorld forbade trainers from entering the water with an orca from than point forward. Although the first SeaWorld trainer to be killed by Tilikum, she was the third human being to lose her life to the orca.
She was born to Marion and Charles LoVerde. She married Scott Brancheau in 1996.
She and Roy Horn were both attacked while working with the animals they trained.
